1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an electrode and the electrode; and, more specifically, to a method of manufacturing an electrode used in electrochemical devices encompassing electrochemical capacitors such as electric double layer capacitors and secondary batteries such as lithium-ion secondary batteries, and the electrode.
2. Related Background Art
Electrochemical devices encompassing electrochemical capacitors such as electric double layer capacitors and secondary batteries such as lithium-ion secondary batteries can easily reduce their sizes and weights, and thus are expected to become power supplies or backup power supplies for portable devices (small-size electronic devices), for example, auxiliary power supplies for electric cars and hybrid cars, etc., and various studies have been underway in order to improve their performances. In the case where a large capacity is required as in a power supply for an electric car in particular, the development of electrochemical devices having a large capacity per unit volume of electrodes (hereinafter referred to as “volume capacity”) has been desired.
Electrodes used in such an electrochemical device has a laminate structure including a collector and an active material containing layer, and can be made, for example, by applying a coating liquid containing a constituent material of the active material containing layer onto a surface of the collector and drying the liquid (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-106332).
Here, the coating liquid is applied to the collector surface such that a predetermined region, e.g., an edge part of the collector, attains an exposed state. When an exposed surface is thus provided in a part of the collector surface, an exposed part of the collector including the exposed surface can be used as an external output terminal for establishing an electric connection to the outside. Drying after applying the coating liquid can yield a laminate (a laminate to become an electrode) including a laminate part in which the active material containing layer is formed on the collector and the exposed part in which no active material containing layer is formed on the collector.